Another year, another new operating system, another update to the Mail Vacuuming script that I first posted in 2012. It’s an AppleScript that performs the simple task of optimizing the database that Mail.app uses for all of your messages, speeding up load and search times.

The latest version of Mail now uses a sandboxed container (in addition to a V5 bump). I personally haven’t used Mail in years, so the fixes came from @lbutlr. The gist is updated, and the code is below.

speedmail.applescript raw
(*
Speed up Mail.app by vacuuming the Envelope Index
Code from: http://www.hawkwings.net/2007/03/03/scripts-to-automate-the-mailapp-envelope-speed-trick/
Originally by "pmbuko" with modifications by Romulo
Updated by Brett Terpstra 2012
Updated by Mathias Törnblom 2015 to support V3 in El Capitan and still keep backwards compability
Updated by @lbutlr for V5 and Container folder in High Sierra and use du
*)

tell application "Mail" to quit
set os_version to do shell script "sw_vers -productVersion"
set mail_version to "V2"
considering numeric strings
	if "10.10" ≤ os_version then set mail_version to "~/Library/Mail/V3/Maildata/Envelope\\ Index"
	if "10.12" < os_version then set mail_version to "~/Library/Mail/V4/Maildata/Envelope\\ Index"
	if "10.13" ≤ os_version then set mail_version to "~/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/Data/Library/Mail/V5/Maildata/Envelope\\ Index"
end considering

set sizeBefore to do shell script "du -h  " & mail_version & "|  awk {'print $1'}"
do shell script "/usr/bin/sqlite3 " & mail_version & " vacuum"
set sizeAfter to do shell script "du -h " & mail_version & "| awk {'print $1'}"
display dialog ("Mail index before: " & sizeBefore & return & "Mail index after: " & sizeAfter & return & return & "Enjoy the new speed!")
tell application "Mail" to activate
Copy